What’s the worst that could happen when a fat guy puts on a little coat?

Most of us have heard of the many rules to live by; “Stop and smell the roses”, “You only live once”, “Don’t eat yellow snow”,etc etc. But I’ve found through my own life experience that asking yourself “What’s the worst that could happen” has been one of the most useful of them all. Obviously there are limitations to this depending on your lifestyle, but really let those words sink in…

What is the worst that could happen?

If it ends in …”jail time” or “death” then maybe skip that goal…

Really think about using this phrase in your everyday life.

Want a promotion? Hurdle out of your cubicle and just ASK. What’s the worst that could happen? Your boss says no? Then work harder, prove yourself and try again! I know this is easier said than done, but most of the time, isn’t the fear we have growing inside us made up scenarios of what could go wrong? The point of asking yourself “What’s the worst that could happen?” is not to go to imagination station and scare yourself out of your dreams and goals! It’s to allow you to see that realistically, the outcome isn’t going to be the end of the world! So cut out all the make believe Barney…

All that negative make believe is destroying our chance at happiness.

Trust me, I’ve been there. Imagination is an amazing tool, but when you use it to be your own worst enemy, it can be dangerous.

I mean, does anyone remember the movie “It”?

But don’t think because you are feeling fearful you are in a bad place, because more often than not, fear can be a positive thing! This fear you have when thinking about your goal means you are about to cannon ball out of your comfort zone, it also means that you are planning to act on something that is important to you! So make fear your friend 🙂

Just make sure that you aren’t letting the fear control your life …

Use the fear in addition to your burning passion to keep on trucking! But at the same time, keep in mind that there is a possibility that it may not go 100% your way and leave room to learn. If you get the dreaded “No”, find out why! When you find out why, come at the situation with a new approach and you may be surprised. The more you use this method, the more you are going to WOW yourself with what you are capable of.

But how will you know what you are capable of if you don’t try?

I’m sure we have all heard the quote from Lucille Ball, “I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.” Reading a quote such as this and living by it are completely different things. In my opinion, regret is a harder pill to swallow than a moment of disappointment. You could have a negative outcome nine times out of ten, but would’t you feel better knowing you put yourself out there?

This is one of the most difficult concepts to grasp. For example, it takes a ton of courage to ask someone out on a date. If that person says no, it is one of the shittiest feelings on the planet (trust me, I’ve been there). Immediately following that rejection, it’s damn near impossible to feel good about putting yourself out there again. The first thing that comes to mind is “What is wrong with me?” As much as you prepare yourself for the possibility of disappointment, it can still feel like a punch in the face…

Let yourself feel and cry it out, eat your feelings, bitch to your friend, order a martini (even if you think they are gross but know their strength will just do the trick). Know that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, bad timing, or that you are better off. The more you sulk in the feeling, the less likely you are to put yourself out there again. Please NEVER let anyone take away your courage.

No matter how bad it hurts, know that you’re BADASS for having the guts to try!!

Speaking of badass, I recently watched a Ted Talk by Tim Ferriss titled, “Why You Should Define Your Fears Instead of Your Goals” and it was INSANELY eye opening. If you’re never going to check out the talk, just peep this quote by Seneca the Younger, “We suffer more often in imagination than we do in reality.” HO-LY SHIT! How spot on! This is a bad habit of mine that I am working on. Often times when I have a free moment to myself; the shower, in the car, basically any time I am kid free, I tend to imagine negative scenarios of specific life circumstances. Listen, I preach thinking positively and everyday I make a conscious effort to do so, but I’m human, these negative thoughts happen…

For example, instead of taking that precious free time to imagine winning a free trip to Disney by sharing that Facebook post, this is what plays in my head instead…

This is what was explained by Tim Ferriss as “The Premeditation of Evils”, and this philosophy is as old as your mom…err… I mean …this is some seriously ancient stuff. All this premeditation, negative imagination, and playing out worst case scenarios, is preventing us from taking action for a more fulfilling and Happy life. You may be saying to yourself right about now, “Jess, you’re really contradicting yourself” and I would see your point. I am preaching to tell yourself what’s the worst that could happen, and I am praising Tim Ferriss for saying that playing out these worst case scenarios can be harmful. But, before you think I’m losing it, continue to the next paragraph….

Saying to yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen” and constantly living in fear of worst case scenarios are two drastically different ways of life. Playing out a worst case scenario can actually ease your anxiety of taking action. Going back to Tim’s Ted Talk (Holy alliteration Batman!) he explained in detail a pretty amazing plan of action for those who are of the chronic worrier population. This plan is called, “Fear Setting” and in a nutshell, you write down your worst case scenario, how you could prevent it, and a repair plan just in case it does occur. For further explanation, check out Tim’s Ted Talk…

“Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”

I’l leave you with that thought provoking quote by Jerzey Gregorek. When we think about the worst case scenario we can either get scared and shy away or we can look at it as a challenge. I have been living by “What’s the worst that could happen?” for quite some time now, but after educating myself through others experiences I am looking at it in a whole new light. Not only am I going to diminish the fear by saying “What’s the worst that could happen?”, but now I am going to take an extra step. I’m going to make the difficult decisions, bite the bullet, and know that my hard choice will leave me with a more beneficial outcome than the easy way out.

So I encourage you to make good choices, think of the worst possible scenarios from those choices, not to be too terrified by them, and go ahead and snap necks and cash checks!

And know that your worst case scenario couldn’t be much worse than this…

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